The interesting thing is, without knowing it vendors are going MLM. They sign up with a company that has the technology to set up the Affiliate program for their website and their links. The technology company has an alliance with a marketing group that subcontracts with the technology group to obtain linked web site affiliates. The marketing group hires sales persons to go out and hunt for web sites to put under contract. When the website owner signs up he becomes the last in a chain of marketers. None of these entities take delivery of goods or transfer them. They are pure marketers receiving commissions.

By definition Multilevel means "more than two levels." Let's count the levels involved in the Internet transaction sequence described so far:

Technology company - controls marketing

Marketing group - sets up sales force

Sales persons - sells affiliate program to website owners

The website owner actually sells product via the link.

Wow! We have four levels below the selling company! This could be call an Internet MLM or Multi-Affiliate Program. This is an MLM sales sequence by legal definition! Can you imagine the shock on some vendor's face when he gets hit by a State Attorney General for selling products in the AG's home state without being registered. Those fines may be a real boon to states that are angry at not being able to collect sales tax on Internet transactions!

The marketing portion is happening today with over 20 companies. Large amounts of money are being spent to finance start up technology companies to set up links and systems to track and pay for the sales. They are struggling to learn how to program computers to pay MLM commission structures on the Multi-Affiliate agreements.

Distributors that have self-replicating home pages on a corporate web site are members of a type of Affiliate program. These distributors use their Affiliate "tagged" URL to send customers to the website. Any MLM company without this Affiliate function on their website today is way behind the Internet power curve today.

BTW (Internet talk for by the way) if someone wants to enlist you in an affiliate program by putting a paying link on your website, be careful! Put the link at the end of your distributor form or order form. You don't want prospective clients and distributors to click on that Affiliate link and leave your website prematurely before the prospect completes their business with you!

The hottest thing on the Internet for the last four years (an Internet year is 90 days) was Affiliate marketing. You put a link on your website to a vendor. If someone clicks on that link you collect money if the clicker buys a product from the vendor.

Now we have Multi-Affiliate Marketing. The Multi-Affiliate marketer distributes their "link" in conjunction with their company's URL address. If enough people use that "portable" link and sign up for the business opportunity the Multi-Affiliate marketer can find himself with a downline of hundreds.

Some traits of successful Multi-Affiliate programs could be described as:

Simple sign up at no or low cost

Seamless operation from site click in to paying commissions

Prohibitions against spamming

"Self replicating" web sites at no cost

Automatic continuing commissions for repeat sales

Templated advertising material for distribution and some allowance for modification